Burmese Mystic Healer Beats Three Children to Death in Exorcism Ritual

Hospital workers carry the body of three-year-old Nay La Linn, a victim of an exorcism ritual, for burial at a public cemetrey in Twante town, south of Yangon – Photo AFP

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TWANTE -Â Three Burmese children have been beaten to death in a village outside Yangon by a man purporting to be a healer, who told their families they were possessed by evil spirits.

The mystic healer allegedly punched and kicked two toddlers and an eight-month-old baby to death during exorcism rituals on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, according to police and relatives.

Local lieutenant-major Kyaw Naing Soe said the “exorcist” put the villagers into a trance, then killed the children as they watched.

Cemetery personnel bury the body of three-year-old Nay La Linn, a victim of an exorcism ritual, in Twante town, south of Yangon on Saturtday as novice monks look on (AFP Photo)

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“On the night of the 18th, the three-year-old boy was beaten to death and the culprit threw him in the Twante canal,” he told AFP. “On his return, he continued to beat the three young girls and two of them were killed.”

The uncle of the dead boy, Tun Naing, said the villagers had lost their senses after the exorcist fed them “blessed” water, then made them stand in a circle as he chanted and cast spells.

“Because of what he did everyone was out of their mind,” Tun Naing told AFP, his eyes still glazed.

“I still feel afraid of something in my mind. I don’t understand what is happening. … Some people have gone to other mystics to release themselves from the curse.”

Only a handful of people attended the dead boy’s funeral on Saturday in Twante, a town south of Myanmar’s main city Rangoon.

Tun Naing said most family members were still too scared to show their faces in public.

A police report said the bodies of the dead children — a boy, three, a two-year-old girl and the baby — showed evidence of having been punched, kicked and stamped on.

Hospital workers alerted authorities after the father of another little girl who had been beaten brought her to hospital covered in bruises.

Police have charged the “exorcist” with murder, grievous bodily harm and hiding a dead body. He is being held in Insein prison near Rangoon.

While the majority of people in Myanmar are Buddhist, many also believe in spirits, astrology and yadaya — magic used to ward off evil or misfortune.